I am interested. I sent you a PM. I am just starting though, so I am not writing anytime soon. But would like to connect.

Bhussola:Hello house, how's everyone doing? It's been awhile and how's the French journey going? Mine has been very tedious o especially writing and listening but I keep at it. So just saw today's draw was 470 & it put the fear of God in me but we go pass by God's grace. Please i need a study buddy/buddies that plan to write the exams by September/October? Cos I noticed i'm somewhat relaxed even with my tutor. I live in Lagos by the way even better if you stay around the egbeda axis. However, ikeja is an option also. Please anyone interested should respond...let's say i'm on A2/B1 sha

Hello All, I have been a silent reader by decided to join the chatty train... ok here is my take on the TCF and TEF saga. I have written both and I will share my experience below.

I wrote TEF at alliance Ibadan, for me, All was quite cool except for EE... the passages were too long and complex... mind you I studied French in university here in Nigeria, did masters 1 in France and lived there for about 3 and half years. I currently work as a French sales coordinator.

Back to my TEF jist... we started the exams on time and finished 3 hrs after... paper based exam....Results came like 3 weeks after and I had B2 in EO, CE, CO... I had B1 in EE.

I was a bit depressed and disappointed and decided to give it another shot. I joined the telegram group and I met a friend who told me he had written TCF in Cotonou and he passed. I gave it a thought and decided to go to Cotonou. I sent a mail to the institut and was told I have to come for registration 3 days before the exams. I left home early, and arrived Benin 5 hrs after. The journey was damn too stressful P.S- please note that don’t attempt the Cotonou route if you are an ajebo. EXTREMELY terrible road.

Ok getting to the institution, i was informed I have have sent to do attestation for my international passport at their la Mairie, omo mehn where do I know...Hmm I took a cab and the crowd i saw at the la mairie was unexpected... the last time I saw such was in uni while queuing to get accommodation. To cut it short, I got it done an hour after, went back to the institute and registration done and I returned back to lag jejely.

Went back for the exams 4 days after, roads still terribly bad, journey stressful, hotel was a lil good. The exam was the following day, got here right on time but we were delayed for no reason. The exam CBT and we got our results for CO and EO on immediately after the exam. We had to wait for 15 working days for EE and EO... I had B2 again except for CO where I had a B1 again.

Right now I’m at a cross road, still not sure of the next time but I’m sure not giving up.

Analysis————I believe TCF is easier than TEF especially for beginners just that it’s only done in port Harcourt.

I’m think I’m able to convince you and not confuse you with these few points of mine.... heheheh (our secondary school debate line)

babiechic:Hello All, I have been a silent reader by decided to join the chatty train... ok here is my take on the TCF and TEF saga. I have written both and I will share my experience below.

I wrote TEF at alliance Ibadan, for me, All was quite cool except for EE... the passages were too long and complex... mind you I studied French in university here in Nigeria, did masters 1 in France and lived there for about 3 and half years. I currently work as a French sales coordinator.

Back to my TEF jist... we started the exams on time and finished 3 hrs after... paper based exam....Results came like 3 weeks after and I had B2 in EO, CE, CO... I had B1 in EE.

I was a bit depressed and disappointed and decided to give it another shot. I joined the telegram group and I met a friend who told me he had written TCF in Cotonou and he passed. I gave it a thought and decided to go to Cotonou. I sent a mail to the institut and was told I have to come for registration 3 days before the exams. I left home early, and arrived Benin 5 hrs after. The journey was damn too stressful P.S- please note that don’t attempt the Cotonou route if you are an ajebo. EXTREMELY terrible road.

Ok getting to the institution, i was informed I have have sent to do attestation for my international passport at their la Mairie, omo mehn where do I know...Hmm I took a cab and the crowd i saw at the la mairie was unexpected... the last time I saw such was in uni while queuing to get accommodation. To cut it short, I got it done an hour after, went back to the institute and registration done and I returned back to lag jejely.

Went back for the exams 4 days after, roads still terribly bad, journey stressful, hotel was a lil good. The exam was the following day, got here right on time but we were delayed for no reason. The exam CBT and we got our results for CO and EO on immediately after the exam. We had to wait for 15 working days for EE and EO... I had B2 again except for CO where I had a B1 again.

Right now I’m at a cross road, still not sure of the next time but I’m sure not giving up.

Analysis————I believe TCF is easier than TEF especially for beginners just that it’s only done in port Harcourt.

I’m think I’m able to convince you and not confuse you with these few points of mine.... heheheh (our secondary school debate line)

Excellent contrubution. Thank you so very much. If you find TCF easier, maybe try it again. Please could you tell us how EE on CBT with the AZERTY was?

All the best....our motto is refresh...refine...refire....no giving up!

babiechic:........ I joined the telegram group and I met a friend who told me he had written TCF in Cotonou and he passed. I gave it a thought and decided to go to Cotonou. I sent a mail to the institut and was told I have to come for registration 3 days before the exams. I left home early, and arrived Benin 5 hrs after. The journey was damn too stressful P.S- please note that don’t attempt the Cotonou route if you are an ajebo. EXTREMELY terrible road.

Went back for the exams 4 days after, roads still terribly bad, journey stressful, hotel was a lil good. The exam was the following day, got here right on time but we were delayed for no reason. The exam CBT and we got our results for CO and EO on immediately after the exam. We had to wait for 15 working days for EE and EO... I had B2 again except for CO where I had a B1.

Analysis————I believe TCF is easier than TEF especially for beginners just that it’s only done in port Harcourt.

I’m think I’m able to convince you and not confuse you with these few points of mine.... heheheh (our secondary school debate line)

....See one small "Idiots Guide to TEF" that a kind soul shared with me

...focus was on EE....some have been mentioned already:

1. Listening : always on youtube listening to french news channels (France 24, RFI etc). If you have the data to spare, it's worth it. I actually stopped listening to foreign news in English completely, just to forcefully tune my ears to french.

2. Writing : practiced constantly. Was always writing and re-writing essays/letters of an exam nature. However, I was still taking classes at AF then, so I could always get the teacher to do the corrections.

4. Speaking: Again practice, but exam specific practice and did a lot of role play (again, I could benefit from using my teacher as a speaking partner).

1. for letter writing, I found it very helpful to have a ready made format for the introduction and closing parts, which I could easily adapt regardless of topic. This saved valuable time during the exam, so one could just focus on the body of the letter.

2. For the fait divers, keep the narration in past tenses (passé composé, imparfait or passé conditionnel) because the objective is always to narrate an event that has already taken place. Avoid present or future tenses.

3. Harmonization of gender, pronouns and cojugations within the same phrase. Try to make sure they're all in tandem e.g. "they went to pick up their results" ="Ils sont allés récupérer leurs resultats." Note the "s" in allés and leurs due to the fact the subject (Ils) and object (resultats) are plural. And if the subject was feminine, we would use double "e" in the conjugation of aller i.e. elles sont allées...

4. Try as much as you can to use the correct accents on the appropriate words (you get scored for this). Reading french articles would help in getting familiar with commonly accentuated words. But take note of "a" which has 2 forms: i) as a conjugation of avoir e.g. elle a un chien / Il a fait un cadeau (no accent) ii) as a preposition e.g. je vais à la maison (accentuated).

5 For your letter, try to use a variety of tenses in your write-up, not just present and passe compose (include subjonctif and conditionnel). This gives extra scores because it's proof of a more advanced level of competence. And you can use the most common forms of these tenses (to avoid complicating things) e.g. j'aimerais / je voudrais - "j'aimerais donner mon avis" / "je voudrais (conditionnel) que vous fassiez (subjonctif) attention à notre niveau de sécurité". And you don't necessarily need to use them repeatedly, just one occurence of each will suffice as long as it's correctly used and matches the context.

6. Finally, simplicity is key. Keep your phrases simple and concise, make your points clear, let one idea flow to the next, pay close attention to spellings, conjugations, genders and the likes, and everything will be fine.

VERY IMPORTANT: please always take a minute or two after each write-up to proof read it. You'll be surprised at how many corrections you'll find yourself making. Even if you haven't finished writing the whole thing and you're running out of time, please stop and do your corrections. Better to write 75% accurately than 100% with errors. I personally tried to proof read after each paragraph and do a final check at the end."

First and foremost all the best in you exams @Bellerin, I believe even the TEF markers will know that someone took their exams from Nigeria on the day. Also best wishes to all the "silent" readers here as you silently take your exams.

On this TEF vs TCF matter, make me sef add my own 2 million Canadian Dollars on top.

I believe overall, it is easier to attain your goal with the TCF than with the TEF. I have written the TEF (awaiting results), and I am revising for TCF (just incase). My reason is simple and will be explained thus:

1. As prof Mamaroon as already explain, you need just 50% pass mark to attain B2 in speaking and writing. We all know that EE is a major stress point for TEF takers, infact I couldn't attempt the TEF for a long time because of my fear for the EE. But then, even if they both required 70% pass mark, I would have still gone for the TCF EE, rather than that of TEF as the questions come in 3 parts and 4 essays in what I would call bite sizes. Your mistakes will be fewer if you have to write in shorter forms than the long argumentative essay you meet in part B of TEF. Also, the speaking come in 3 bite sizes of which the part 1 (se presenter) and part 2 (ask questions like part 1 in TEF) already puts you on the way to success.

2. The CE of TCF is much simpler, shorter and more straight-forward even at the C2 level than those of TEF. You don't need to have seen the questions previously to be able to answer.

3. The CO of TCF is rather tricky (my fear), however, in practice, i realise I tend to score better in B1, B2 and C1 than in the A1 and 2, well overall it is still tricky.

WHAT WORKS FOR TEF1. It used to be much more popular than TCF so there is a lot of revision materials and their solutions available

2. They repeat questions A LOT, so if you are lucky to encounter a repeated question, then you are good. My CO was completely new as I had neever heard the questions before.

3. Out of 60 listening questions, you will find a lot more easier questions to answer than the 39 of TCF

My Submission

If you have written TEF more than once, it is difficult to "change" to TCF because of the major reasons I gave, but if you have never written any of the exams, I would advice you to go for the TCF. Once you have learnt the language enough to write the exams, focus on the understanding the CO pattern, once you do, you are good to go.

All the best a tous et a toutes, for if there is one major thing we will all gain apart from a minimum of 42 points, is the ability to speak a second foreign language, and it is something I can't trade away.

You presented my experience and opinion on the two tests perfectly. You're very much on point with your view and I will advise same to others. Like you said, I find the CO of TCF more tricky. Infact, I found the understanding the question after the main audio more difficult than the Audio itself.

First and foremost all the best in you exams @Bellerin, I believe even the TEF markers will know that someone took their exams from Nigeria on the day. Also best wishes to all the "silent" readers here as you silently take your exams.

On this TEF vs TCF matter, make me sef add my own 2 million Canadian Dollars on top.

I believe overall, it is easier to attain your goal with the TCF than with the TEF. I have written the TEF (awaiting results), and I am revising for TCF (just incase). My reason is simple and will be explained thus:

1. As prof Mamaroon as already explain, you need just 50% pass mark to attain B2 in speaking and writing. We all know that EE is a major stress point for TEF takers, infact I couldn't attempt the TEF for a long time because of my fear for the EE. But then, even if they both required 70% pass mark, I would have still gone for the TCF EE, rather than that of TEF as the questions come in 3 parts and 4 essays in what I would call bite sizes. Your mistakes will be fewer if you have to write in shorter forms than the long argumentative essay you meet in part B of TEF. Also, the speaking come in 3 bite sizes of which the part 1 (se presenter) and part 2 (ask questions like part 1 in TEF) already puts you on the way to success.

2. The CE of TCF is much simpler, shorter and more straight-forward even at the C2 level than those of TEF. You don't need to have seen the questions previously to be able to answer.

3. The CO of TCF is rather tricky (my fear), however, in practice, i realise I tend to score better in B1, B2 and C1 than in the A1 and 2, well overall it is still tricky.

WHAT WORKS FOR TEF1. It used to be much more popular than TCF so there is a lot of revision materials and their solutions available

2. They repeat questions A LOT, so if you are lucky to encounter a repeated question, then you are good. My CO was completely new as I had neever heard the questions before.

3. Out of 60 listening questions, you will find a lot more easier questions to answer than the 39 of TCF

My Submission

If you have written TEF more than worse, it is difficult to "change" to TCF because of the major reasons I gave, but if you have never written any of the exams, I would advice you to go for the TCF. Once you have learnt the language enough to write the exams, focus on the understanding the CO pattern, once you do, you are good to go.

All the best a tous et a toutes, for if there is one major thing we will all gain apart from a minimum of 42 points, is the ability to speak a second foreign language, and it is something I can't trade away.

Mamaroon:situation haff enter critical mode...See one small "Idiots Guide to TEF" hat a kind soul shared with me.....focus was on EE as that was the problem area I approached them on, some have been mentioned already:

6. Finally, simplicity is key. Keep your phrases simple and concise, make your points clear, let one idea flow to the next, pay close attention to spellings, conjugations, genders and the likes, and everything will be fine. VERY IMPORTANT: please always take a minute or two after each write-up to proof read it. You'll be surprised at how many corrections you'll find yourself making. Even if you haven't finished writing the whole thing and you're running out of time, please stop and do your corrections. Better to write 75% accurately than 100% with errors. I personally tried to proof read after each paragraph and do a final check at the end."

I really like 6.Saw a few errors when I cross checked. You can't over stress that point.

Plus, if I may just add, using reported speech in the fait divers test...I found those useful.Best wishes to us all!

First and foremost all the best in you exams @Bellerin, I believe even the TEF markers will know that someone took their exams from Nigeria on the day. Also best wishes to all the "silent" readers here as you silently take your exams.

On this TEF vs TCF matter, make me sef add my own 2 million Canadian Dollars on top.

I believe overall, it is easier to attain your goal with the TCF than with the TEF. I have written the TEF (awaiting results), and I am revising for TCF (just incase). My reason is simple and will be explained thus:

I can't agree less with you.

Having written TEF, and now preparing for TCF, I find TCF easier, but as you said the CO part is tricky. You listen once and part of it is also listening for the question.

but the clips are short with I think the longest being about 1 minute or so, if I am right

Having written TEF, and now preparing for TCF, I find TCF easier, but as you said the CO part is tricky. You listen once and part of it is also listening for the question.

but the clips are short with I think the longest being about 1 minute or so, if I am right

Hi all.... to those preparing for TCF..... Just drawing your attention to a tip I believe you already know... 'Used on TCF CO, I believe will make a difference.... *Get the test on paper for your practice. Read the options and underline keywords before the audio starts to play.

Hi all.... to those preparing for TCF..... Just drawing your attention to a tip I believe you already know... 'Used on TCF CO, I believe will make a difference.... *Get the test on paper for your practice. Read the options and underline keywords before the audio starts to play.

Kennyyo:You presented my experience and opinion on the two tests perfectly. You're very much on point with your view and I will advise same to others. Like you said, I find the CO of TCF more tricky. Infact, I found the understanding the question after the main audio more difficult than the Audio itself.

You are three (too) correct for TCF CO when I checked on TV5, all clear......except the question at the very end...inaudible

Hi all.... to those preparing for TCF..... Just drawing your attention to a tip I believe you already know... 'Used on TCF CO, I believe will make a difference.... *Get the test on paper for your practice. Read the options and underline keywords before the audio starts to play.